There was a knock on his door. “Come in.” He turned to see his mate step in. She was every bit as beautiful as the day he met her. “You’re a vision, Rose.”
She walked over to him, and he pressed his lips to her forehead. Then he ran his hands down her arms until their hands clasped. She didn’t smile as she usually did when he complimented her. Her face was pensive, and her eyes seemed lost. “What’s wrong?” When she didn’t answer right away, Jeremiah gave her a little shake. “Rose?”
She seemed to come out of her stupor and looked up at him. Her pink lips turned up into a small smile though her eyes remained dim. “I’m just worried about Tanya. And Lisa, as well.”
His brow drew low. “Why? I thought when you talked to Tanya and told her she could go to Missouri, she sounded fine. And why would you be worried about Lisa?” Jeremiah knew how fond both his daughter and mate were about the human that Tyler had taken into his pack decades earlier.
“I called and spoke with Lisa.” Rose stepped out of his grasp and wrapped her arms around herself. “She sounded frail.”
“She’s aging, love,” Jeremiah reminded her. “We will be here long after she is gone.”
Rose covered her mouth, and her eyes watered. Maybe he hadn’t needed to be so blunt.
“Why are you worried about Tanya?” he quickly asked, hoping to get her mind off of Lisa.
She shrugged and waved him off. “It’s nothing really. Just a mom missing her daughter and hoping she is well. You know how I get.”
Jeremiah searched their bond for anything she wasn’t telling him, but all he found was exactly what she said. Rose did tend to worry about their daughter, and he tried to keep that to a minimum by keeping a tight leash on her. He and Tanya had had a knockdown drag-out fight over her going with the three males to hunt in Louisiana. It was Rose who’d actually talked him off the ledge. If it were up to him, Tanya wouldn’t leave the pack territory. She was an adult, technically, but she was his only child and a female at that. Canis lupus females were protected because their birth rates were so low. But he also wanted Tanya to be able to stand on her own two feet if there came a day when she needed to fight. Peace wasn’t guaranteed, unfortunately. So he was having to learn to let go. A little. He wasn’t about to get crazy about it. She’d always have his beta and third and fourth dominant males with her when she wasn’t in pack territory.
“You have something on your mind, love.” Rose drew him from his thoughts. “Or someone, I should say. Who is this Dillon I’m seeing in your thoughts?”
Jeremiah slipped his hands in his pockets. “He’s a wolf that showed up at our door. He’s asked to go through a trial period to see if our pack is a good fit for him. He was a member of the Montana pack at one time but said he didn’t feel like that’s where he belonged anymore.”
“Hmm.” She nodded. “And judging by your tone of voice, I’d guess you don’t trust him?”
Jeremiah’s jaw clenched. He trusted few people, and his mate knew it.
“What are you going to do?” She cocked her head to the side.
“My first instinct was to send him back to Montana. Let them deal with him.” Jeremiah’s ire at the wolf had simmered while he’d discussed his daughter and Lisa with Rose, but now it began to grow again. “But I agreed to let him stay. I called Mathew, in Montana, and he made it clear that Dillon has been gone from their pack for a lot longer than Dillon let on. The alpha wouldn’t divulge why he left, said that was Dillon’s story to tell.” He sighed. “A wolf who hasn’t been a member of a pack for that long might not have the ability to follow orders because they’ve been out of the pack hierarchy. Not to mention, the darkness in lone wolves grows faster than those within a pack. He might be on the verge of going feral.”
Jeremiah had considered those things before granting him the probationary period. But the truth was, he was intrigued by the man, especially after asking about the mating marks. The chance that Dillon would go feral was lower since he had the markings, but not much. Being separated from his female, no matter the reason, would drive him crazy and might just push him over the edge. If he was a wolf on the verge of going feral, or creeping that direction since he wasn’t with his mate, it was better to have him close where he could be put down quickly then to turn him loose and be responsible for the deaths of innocents. Jeremiah would never let himself look like an alpha that didn’t have control of his wolves. And a wolf leaving his pack and killing people would give that appearance.
She held up a finger. “If that’s the case then he’s a wolf in need of help, that doesn’t make him a bad male.”
He chuckled. “You always want to see the best in people, Rosey.”
“And you always want to assume that everyone’s intentions are bad.”
“And I’m usually right. I have good instincts, and I follow them.” He walked back over to the window and looked out at their territory. “We have a good thing here, Rose. I’ve been pack alpha for over a decade. This pack was a mess under the leadership of the previous alpha. He was weak. Look what we’ve built.”
“And you think this one wolf will compromise all of that?”
There was a voice in the back of his head that was screaming “Yes!” It wasn’t just Dillon’s lie by omission that troubled the alpha, but the potential disruption he represented. “My wolves fear me and obey me without question. There is no infighting in my pack because none can hold a candle to my dominance, and each knows their place.” Apart from the random vampire encounter every so often, Jeremiah hadn't had to deal with many problems in his position of alpha. “We’ve had peace, especially in the middle of North America. I aim to keep it that way.”
“So you let him stay. Why?” Rose stepped up beside him and rested a hand on his back. Her warmth seeped through his shirt and into his skin.
“Because if he is on the verge of going feral, I can put him down quickly. Although I will have to be sure to make him understand that I don’t like liars, even those by omission. He should have been honest about how long he’d been a lone wolf. ”
“Surely it won’t be necessary to put him down. He must have seemed stable enough for you to let him stay.” Her voice was soft. His Rose didn’t like violence. A first impression of his mate would lead some to believe she was a submissive wolf. And though she preferred to deal with things in a more diplomatic manner, his mate could tear out the throat of someone threatening those she loved and not lose sleep over it.
“True. Only time will tell. And I’ve given myself time by allowing him to stay.”
“Maybe give him the opportunity to share more about his past as that time passes instead of jumping on him about not being completely transparent,” she suggested. “You catch more wolves with fresh meat than rotten roadkill.”
“Perhaps.” He admitted to himself the idea had merit.
Her arms wrapped around him from behind. He ran his hand over hers. “Think about it,” she encouraged. “If you want to keep peace, then start with a peaceful approach.” With a final squeeze, she released him. “I’m going to bed.” Exhaustion filled her voice. “Don’t be too long, okay?”
